Despite the soul searching regarding the place of a college education in today’s world (Is college worth the cost? What’s a college education for, anyway? Must high school grads go to college?), there is some good news. A new book by Daniel Chambliss and Christopher Takacs, How College Works, offers some solace for those faculty members, administrators, provosts, and presidents who are weary of having to defend academe yet again. Better yet, the authors offer some direction—marching orders, even—on how to improve student life and promote academic success.
I can’t review the whole book here, nor can I even do complete justice to all the recommendations for improving undergraduate life that the authors offer. I will focus on those recommendations that can be readily enacted by faculty members, either on their own or in collaboration with administrators. I encourage interested readers to obtain a copy of the book to learn about the decade-long project that explored student life so intensively.
One thing: It’s possible that some readers, especially college and university professors, might look at the following list and say, “but we already do these things!” I have no doubt that some faculty members do some of these things (or something like them), but likely not in any integrated and ongoing way—consistency is important, as is a shared vision among most faculty and most administrators within an institution. What looks or sounds easy takes a bit of effort and heavy lifting—but there is positive payoff for the students and the supportive school. Here are five recommendations I culled from How College Works:
1. Relationships students form (or fail to form) have a big impact on their success. E. M. Forester famously said, “Only connect.” And there is the real challenge. Some new students make friends quickly with other students; faculty members can’t do much about whether and how such relationships form with or among their peers. But faculty members can work closely with new students in order to make them feel welcome, valued, and a part of the college community. Some faculty can be excellent mentors to some students—relationships that begin early can last for four or more years. Other faculty can extend a friendly welcome and serious support—behaviorally conveying that they are delighted to have new students. Being a standoffish or aloof teacher is not helpful (get out of that ivory tower for a bit!). The upshot? Faculty members should try to create constructive connections with new students early on—if they wait, it may be too late.
2. Students should learn from an institution's best teachers early on. Often the best instructors in a college or university are tending to advanced courses that call upon their expertise, which means freshmen won’t encounter them until they are juniors or seniors (and this is only if the students stay). Chambliss and Takacs suggest that institutions should work to ensure that the best teachers—the engaging lecturers, the funny but wise ones, those who could make reading a telephone book aloud seem wondrous—are on the front lines of the curricula. These teachers should be leading the introductory courses, those that first-year students are apt to take. This is obviously a sensitive issue. Deans and department chairs need to move gently here, but faculty members who have evidence (course evaluations, word on the street among students, accolades from their fellow teachers) should offer to teach an introductory course in the interest of helping their institutions and students.
3. Good advisors should be cherished and relied upon. Some faculty members work better with students than others do—some excel at helping students choose pathways through the college experience (what courses to take when, what courses to put off for later), while others just don’t. Such excellent advisors—like fabulous teachers—can have a lasting impact on students. These colleagues’ skills need to be leveraged wisely so they can connect with—and help—as many students as possible.
4. Connection makes the difference. Programs, teaching practices, curricula, majors—all the things that comprise a college—are less important than the people who breathe life into them. As the authors put it, “What matters . . . is who meets whom, and when” (p. 157). That is the main lesson. Meaningful and sustained connections between students and faculty members matter more than the courses themselves.
5. It’s all personal. The authors point to a particularly powerful practice that is a staple behavior among faculty who teach in liberal arts colleges but less likely to occur (all else being equal) in large university settings: Having a meal at a professor’s home. This simple form of connection is powerful and can favorably influence a given student for his or her entire college experience—it seems it might even keep some students who were wavering from transferring to another college or dropping out altogether. Never underestimate the impact of breaking bread with your students—they will remember the experience fondly for years.